A great non-fiction read....

In The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, Brooke Hauser enters the International High School in Brooklyn, New York, where the students are immigrants and refugees who speak more than 28 languages and come from more than 45 countries. Some are documented, some are not. All struggle with varying obstacles from loneliness, stress from past traumas, cultural pressures, separation from family, poverty, language barriers, where to go to college, and who to ask to the prom. But they all have their own American Dream.

The stories in this book are humorous, hopeful, and heartbreaking. One 11-year-old Tibetan boy escaped China curled up in a small suitcase; his older brother crossed the Himalayas on foot. Then there's Yasmeen, a gorgeous 17-year-old Yemeni girl who wants to go to college but who is a seriously considering accepting an arranged marriage so she can continue to take care of her younger brother and sister (because both her parents are dead). Other students come from Sierra Leone and Burma with equally moving stories. I found myself rooting for them all.

This is such a great read; it's interesting and well-written, and it feels very timely with the immigration debate that's going on right now. The New Kids is one of those books that I think everyone should read:  it's informative, and compelling, and completely unforgettable.

Happy Reading!

A bookish journey to Syria...

"The second time Doaa nearly drowned, she was adrift in the center of a hostile sea that had just swallowed the man she loved. She was so cold she couldn't feel her feet, so thirsty her tongue had swollen in her mouth. She was so overcome with grief that if not for the two tiny baby girls in her arms, barely alive, she would have let the sea consume her. No land was in sight. Just debris from the shipwreck, a few other survivors praying for rescue, and dozens of bloated, floating corpses."

A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea by Melissa Fleming is the story of Doaa Al Zamel and her family--Syrian refugees who never wanted to leave their beloved home of Daraa, Syria, but felt they had to in order to stay alive. It is also the story of the Syrian people who longed for equality and freedom but were handed war and devastation instead. This powerful portrait of the refugee crisis there is even more heartbreaking because it is still going on while the rest of the world...does what? Doaa asks that question as well. Her story is one of courage and loss, love, hope, and stubborn survival. And I'm very glad that I read it! (Even if it made me cry.)

Some facts from the book:

• Syria has been at war now for six years.
• 5 million refugees have been forced to flee their country.
• 6.5 million more are internally displaced.
• 13.5 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.
• For most, there is nothing left to return home to; their homes, businesses and sometimes even their cities have been utterly destroyed.
• Very few countries in the world welcome them in, or offer them any kind of help.

It's so sad! The plight of all Syrian refugees everywhere breaks my heart. A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea is one of those unforgettable, must-read books, and I want to especially thank Lindsey for recommending it.

Happy Reading!

Similar Read:
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

A bookish journey to South Sudan...

"After two hours, the sounds of attack faded. I took stock of my situation. I had just turned 13. I was naked. I carried no food or water. My village had been destroyed. I had become separated from my mother and siblings. Armed men who spoke a foreign tongue combed the forests and grasslands, and if they found me, they would most likely kill me. The only good thing I could imagine was that I might be safe for awhile ... It was then that I realized the man who sat beside me was not my father."

God Grew Tired of Us is the memoir of John Bul Dau, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. His Dinka village was attacked by the djellabas, Arab militia, when he was just 13. He escaped to a refugee camp in Ethiopia almost 300 miles away. Then, when Ethiopia erupted into its own civil war, John and tens of thousands of other Sudanese refugees were forced to flee again, this time to Kenya. There in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, John went to school where he learned to read and speak English and even earned his high school diploma. He was brought to America in 2001 where he had to learn to adapt to an entirely new way of life. John's refugee story is a truly amazing one. He survived the bullets and beatings of his enemies, hunger, thirst, disease, fear, and even crocodiles in his long journey from Duk Payuel in South Sudan to Syracuse, New York. And throughout it all, he never lost his faith in God or his hope for a better life.

I loved this book. It's very well-written, and it gave me a much better understanding of and empathy for refugees throughout the world.  John Bul Dau has such a resilient spirit. I really admired  his optimism, and his gratitude, and the way he and the other Lost Boys worked together and helped each other to survive. Even in the midst of heartbreaking circumstances, John stayed true to the values of his Dinka heritage. And he never gave up. That's what makes his story so remarkable and inspiring...and so worth reading.

"In the 19 years since that August night, as one of the 'lost boys' of Sudan, I have witnessed my share of death and despair ... (but) I know that I have been blessed and that I have been kept alive for a purpose. They call me a Lost Boy, but let me assure you, God has found me."

Happy Reading!